Film
Genesis - Three Sides Live
Genesis at their commercial peak, captured live during the Abacab tour. A tight, ambitious band performing intricate rock with real swagger—no nostalgia, no apology, just the current thing at full tilt. For anyone curious about 1980s progressive rock when it still mattered, or for Genesis fans wanting to see the band in their arena-ready prime.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love seeing a band of seasoned musicians stretch out a tight, mid-period stage show, and you enjoy catching the old prog suites recast in a glossy early-eighties arena sound.
Skip it if you need a story or context, since this is just the band playing on a stage with almost no framing; the glossy synth polish of the period may also grate.
What it asks of you: Eighty-odd minutes of unbroken attention in one sitting, with no plot to follow, just a band moving from song to song and back again.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Stop Making Sense1984
Talking Heads at their most electrifying, a concert film that's genuinely theatrical. Like Three Sides Live, it captures a band at absolute peak technical command, but with stranger rhythms and visual inventiveness. Essential viewing for anyone who loves the marriage of music and vision.
But It's all performance, no interviews or behind-the-scenes material. If you want to understand the band rather than just feel them, this won't give you that.
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same1976
Led Zeppelin's mythic live performance intercut with fantasy sequences. It's ambitious in a way Three Sides Live isn't—messier, wilder, more willing to fail. Shows you how concert films could be genuinely strange in the pre-MTV era.
But The fantasy scenes are genuinely bizarre and dated. Some of it looks ridiculous now, which wasn't the intention. The sound mix is also uneven.
U2: Rattle and Hum1988
U2 on their Joshua Tree tour, a band wrestling with their own enormity. Like Three Sides Live, it's a document of a specific moment—but this one captures doubt and ego clashing. More complicated than Genesis allowed themselves to be.
But It's self-important in ways Three Sides Live avoids. Some of the earnestness is hard to sit with now, and the documentary elements can feel intrusive.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Genesis - Three Sides Live
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Pennies from Heaven1981
Both are 1981 documents of Phil Collins at a turning point—one showing his mastery of rock performance, the other his ambition to do something entirely different.
Released the same year as Three Sides Live, this is Phil Collins' acting debut in a feature film—but it's not a rock star vanity project. A British social drama with Cole Porter numbers, it's proof that Collins was genuinely interested in becoming a musician-actor. The collision of old Hollywood musical forms with 1980s British misery is oddly moving.
But It's a grim story about sexual repression and infidelity set during the Depression. The tone can feel confused, mixing realism with artificial musical numbers. Some find the mixture of registers jarringly uneven.
More like this (6)
Woodstock1970
The definitive concert documentary. Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Joe Cocker captured raw and immediate. Three Sides Live is polished by comparison—this is what rock felt like when it was still genuinely dangerous and unexpected.
But Three and a half hours. Uneven sound quality. Some of the counterculture framing feels dated, and you'll need patience for the slower moments.
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years1988
Penelope Spheeris captures glam metal and heavy rock with anthropological precision. It's funny and sad and genuinely revealing about musicians offstage. A very different approach to the concert film: less polished, more honest.
But It's deliberately unglamorous. Some of the interviews are cringeworthy by design. If you want to feel good about rock music, this isn't it.
The Concert for Bangladesh1972
George Harrison and Ringo Starr in a benefit concert that changed what live rock film could do. Intimate and earthshaking at once. Shows a different generation of musicians treating concert footage as art rather than just documentation.
But The pacing is slow by modern standards. Some performances overstay their welcome. The political context is now historical rather than urgent.
This Is It2009
Michael Jackson's rehearsals for his final tour, released after his death. Unlike a finished concert film, it's messy and spontaneous and reveals his process. A fascinating document of artistry in real time, mistakes and all.
But It's bittersweet and sad in ways that complicate entertainment. Some people find it exploitative. The footage is incomplete and rough-edged.
Gimme Shelter1970
The Rolling Stones at Altamont, a concert that went catastrophically wrong. It's not a celebration—it's a reckoning. A masterpiece of documentary filmmaking that asks hard questions about rock and roll's relationship with violence.
But It's genuinely disturbing. Death happens onscreen. This isn't entertainment in any comfortable sense. It's difficult, sometimes unbearable.
Synth Britannia2009
Three Sides Live is a product of the exact moment Synth Britannia documents. Watching the documentary first transforms what Three Sides Live looks like—you see it as part of a movement, not just a band.
A documentary about British electronic music's rise in the 1980s, featuring Genesis, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and more. It contextualizes the Abacab-era Genesis within a broader technological and cultural moment. Understanding what synthesizers meant to British rock at that moment makes Three Sides Live more legible and more thrilling.
But It's a BBC period piece about technology and social history. If you want music first and context second, you'll find yourself looking at your watch. Some of the archive footage is low-quality.
People
Cast
Phil CollinsSelf - Vocals, Drums
Tony BanksSelf - Keyboards
Mike RutherfordSelf - Guitars, Bass
Daryl StuermerSelf - Guitars, Bass
Chester ThompsonSelf - Drums- Tony SmithSelf
Directing
- Stuart OrmeDirector
Production
- Tony SmithProducer